Bertie: A Life of Edward VII

Bertie: A Life of Edward VII

Asked in an exam at the age of 16 whether kings should be elected, the
future Edward VII answered: ‘It is better than hereditary right
because you have more chance of having a good sovereign, if it goes by
hereditary right if you have a bad or weak sovereign, you cannot
prevent him reigning.’ By Bertie’s feeble standards, this was a flash
of insight. For the 59 years that he was prince of Wales, his mother
despaired of him. In 1863, she wailed in a letter to her daughter
Alice that Bertie – now 21 – ‘shows more and more how totally, totally
unfit he is for ever becoming King!’ Neither Victoria nor the
constitution could prevent him from ascending to the throne on her
death. It didn’t matter. Bertie – this generally amiable but foolish
and corpulent cigar-smoking, tiger-shooting adulterer – was a
perfectly respectable king. All he had to do was be himself and his
people adored him. In the end, like his mother, he gave his name to an
age.